I Believe the Reformation Also Happened Because of the Pharisaical Behavior in the "Holy City" of Rome

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I'd like to give my own thoughts on another possible reason why Martin Luther launched a reformation. People call it the Reformation but I'd call it simply another reformation. Before Luther, there was also Jan Hus and Girolamo Savonarola who can be considered as reformers themselves. Reforms mean amendments or correcting what's wrong. The Baptists and other pre-Reformation groups also emerged before Luther came. I heard Baptists got called as such because they insisted on Biblical baptism by immersion and told Roman Catholics that their infant baptism didn't save. For that, many Baptists were massacred during the Dark Ages. As Paul David Washer had said it right that the reformers didn't want to be called as such - they just wanted to be biblical. Luther as a Roman Catholic priest went to Rome and finally saw what he didn't expect - a city that was full of hypocrisy from within!
Matthew 23:27-28 
27 “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins. (Good News Translation or GNT)

I remembered reading about what Luther found in Rome. It wasn't just the practice of Johannes Tetzel selling "forgiveness" in the forms of indulgences. It was really that while Rome looked "holy" on the outside -  he saw much immorality from within from the priests who "save souls". Luther during his time as a priest even trembled at the very idea of transubstantiation when he offered his first mass. Luther started to see himself as a sinner unable to save souls. Luther soon found priests with filthy conversation. Soon enough, the papal court was served by twelve naked harlots. You can tell the whole problem that the Pharisees of Rome appear to be good on the outside to people but were full of hypocrisy and sins on the inside as rendered by the GNT which is a Roman Catholic translation. People were giving their wealth and lands to Rome in hopes that the priests of Rome will save their souls. However, the sins of the priests of Rome are unable to save any souls. Luther probably even felt the heart attack that how can a sinful man like him save souls?

What's interesting is that Matthew 23:14 while not found in many modern translations or referenced to only as footnotes - two verses namely Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 which the GNT renders as follows:

40 They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse! 

47 who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse. 

What Luther saw (and Rome still denies to this day lest she loses her followers) was the sales of indulgences. Rome offered "time off from Purgatory" with the cleverly satanic slogan, "When a coin in the coffer clings - a soul from Purgatory springs." The priests of Rome offered salvation for money. What Luther was now saying was that salvation is not for sale. The selling of indulgences and the prevalent simony was robbing widows of their homes. It was all done to get the souls out of Purgatory. Instead, it really nothing more than show business or monkey business. The people were selling what they gave, gave it to Rome, and for pretense, long masses were offered for the dead. It wasn't enough to die in God's grace (at least, according to Rome) but masses were also needed because those who did must still pay off for their sins in Rome. The doctrine of Purgatory spits on the crucifixion by saying that Christ's work on the cross wasn't enough if people still needed some time out in that place before they can enter Heaven. As a former Roman Catholic, I've got some decades-long dead relatives and long prayers, as well as masses, are still said for their souls. The problem is that if the person dies in God's grace then shouldn't that person enter Heaven already? If the person dies without Christ then that person will be in Hell. Luther saw the deception behind the pay for salvation scheme was nothing more than Rome fattening up its treasuries. I mean, isn't it that the Vatican is the world's richest city? I believe that the wealth the Vatican has is much greater than the wealth of Bill Gates and all the world's richest guys combined! 

Worse, Bible reading was still forbidden yet Rome has the audacity to say she gave the world the Bible. The Bible was forbidden to be read to just anyone. True, Jesus built the Church but He also referred to the Scriptures for reference. The Church is a pillar and ground of truth (1st Timothy 3:15) which its job is to uphold doctrinal truth - not add to it! Rome hardly qualifies because the well-documented long list of scandals shows she's no real church. I don't deny that there are scandals among Baptists and Protestants but Rome has been guilty of way too many cover-ups. That's why Luther went to use the printing press, an invention by the Roman Catholic Johannes Gutenburg, to print more Bibles. I guess that's why Gutenberg never got canonized for that reason. I mean, Gutenberg could've been declared as the patron saint of press freedom. Luther took the use of Gutenburg's invention and so did the other Reformers and put it to good use. Luther ended up translating the Roman Catholic Latin Bible into German allowing more people to read it. William Tyndale was executed for translating the Bible into British English. People weren't allowed to read the Bible because they would discover the truth for themselves. 

Besides, one of the biggest marks of a false church is by its fruits. Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15-20 the following:

15 “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. 16 You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs. 17 A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. 20 So then, you will know the false prophets by what they do.

Today, it's been white-washed but thank God that there are some priests and nuns from Rome who came to know the truth. One of the best documentaries ever made by Lumen Productions (and sold by Chick Publications though I no longer recommend it) is "Catholicism: Crisis of Faith". These former priests and nuns discuss why they left Rome with scriptural reasons. True, there are Baptists and Protestants who converted to Roman Catholicism but that doesn't mean that the latter is the truth. Those Baptists and Protestants who converted to Rome are false converts (1st John 2:19). 

In extension, the sins of Rome also made me think that a lot of churches today need reformation against the prosperity gospel, sexually immoral pulpits, and the like. Who can't forget the scandalous incident of Jimmy Swaggart or other prosperity gospel preachers who got caught in the same sin? It turns out that while the late Jack Hyles seemed to be a man of God - his sexual sins are however very well-documented that they can't be denied or simply dismissed as "Jesuit-invented lies" either. Some pastors today aren't God's pastors but men of Satan. They have become no different than Rome. The Reformation shouldn't only go against Rome but against everything that doesn't agree with God's Word as the final authority over everything. Yes, that's what Sola Scriptura means - it's that God's Word is not the sole authority but the final authority. We need people like Luther today who'd stand up against Pharisaical behavior wherever it may be!

Soli Deo Gloria!

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